What are the forms of marriage?

The forms of marriage that exist in different states do not remain unchanged. As a rule, in any modern society it is customary to "legalize" the relationship between a woman and a man who wants to start a family, to lead a joint farm and raise common children. The ceremony of marriage can be official, when the newlyweds receive a certificate of registration in the registry office, and the church, in which the union of two people is unthinkable without holding a religious ceremony.

History

For each people, their historical forms of marriage are associated with certain national traditions and customs. The concept of the family in the days of Ancient Rome was associated with something sacred, and the marriage was already a kind of legal contract between two people, and the woman often made a decision about marriage, taking into account the will of her parents.

At that time, various religious rituals were held to consolidate the union, which were the prototype of a Christian wedding. On the other hand, in the Roman Empire , marriage registration was not limited to rituals, and officials made legal documents, according to which children subsequently could inherit the property of their parents.

Even after the spread of Christianity in Byzantium, until the eleventh century, there were two forms of marriage - the wedding in the church and the usual cohabitation. And the constant cohabitation of free women and men was equated with the creation of a family. Even without the church ritual, the marriage was considered valid, if it lasted for more than a year, this fact could be confirmed by various witnesses, and documents were available that the husband received a dowry from his wife's parents. Only from the XI century, the wedding in the Byzantine Empire was the only form of official marriage.

Modernity

Nowadays, the historical forms of family and marriage are receding into the past, many couples in Europe and the states of the post-Soviet space do not officially register their relationship at all, or are limited to civil ceremony of painting in the registry office. Cohabitation and holding a religious ceremony now no longer have legal force, so a couple to order joint property and to obtain the right to inherit everything that belongs to the spouse, you must register your relationship officially. However, new types of alliances between a man and a woman have appeared, including an open, temporary, guest, unequal and fictitious marriage.

So, some families even after the official "legitimization" of relations prefer to behave towards each other as guests. They live in different apartments, do not engage in joint-farm management and meet only on weekends or once a month. Open marriage provides for a mutual agreement that each of the spouses can, if desired, lead a sexual life on the side, and such behavior will not be considered as treason.

In recent decades, unusual forms of marriage have emerged, including an alliance between same-sex people and formal family registration after the death of one of the spouses. In some states, such forms of official registration of relationships are recognized as valid, however in most countries of the world same-sex marriages are considered illegal and do not have a legal character.

Posthumous registration is typical for situations when one of the future spouses suddenly dies before the wedding. This is necessary for the second party, who receives the status of a widowed person and can rely on all payments or benefits due by law, other than the right to inherit the property of the deceased. All forms of marriage, in spite of their diversity, provide for the creation of a family of the newly free will and their mutual consent to create another "social unit".